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But I would hardly say that our contemporary politicians are "much like" radical Islamists who call for Jihad and the purposeful targeting of civilians.
No ...our politicians "use" religous figures to further their agenda. Same with these thugs. They aren't radical Islamists ..their POWER seeking thugs. Radical Mullahs are their tool to recruit and foster support. We need to be far more passively manipulated than a mass of losers. For us it's a game of the Rush Limbaughs bellowing "Get the bums off of welfare! They'll pay taxes and that will solve all our problems!" and the left saying, " The RICH!!! They build their wealth on your backs!!". They both give us our "infidel" (common enemy). We aren't as radical since we live such a life of relative comfort.
As our situation becomes less favorable here ...and we are asked to endure more "discomfort" ..you will see many new "infidels" created to distract us from our perceived despair ..and I venture to say that many people will pay for this with their lives.
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We in fact, "hunt down and kill" abused children every day even in our society. The majority of felons are probably very disturbed individuals with a history of childhood neglect and abuse. They all have stories and I'm sure they are all sad. But, in order to keep order in society, they have to be contained and you don't sit around making excuses for them. And I for one do not "enjoy" the fact that the cops hunt them down and stick them in jail. Nonetheless, it is necessary in order to protect the rest of society. I wish things were different, but it is what it is.
The only flaw in your assertion is that we have "incidents" of abused children that grow up to be maladaptive adults. No matter what situation exists, there are alternatives. What we see are the flukes ..the anomolies. If however, we designed and maintain an environment to promote their emergence I think that you would see more such "anomolies" in far greater numbers. You can't possibly dismiss these peoples goals ..you can only protest the modality and their "choice of targets".
For example ..if every Palestinian bomber peacefully set himself on fire ...you would probably begin to see those people as the victims. Instead, because they lash out in harmful rage, you view them as lunatic radicals (as I do). The conditions are the same ..the goals are the same. Only the choice of how to combat "their" enemy ..their infidel ...is different. We view it from the comfort of our living rooms with our bowl of chips. They view it from refugee camps and looking down tank barrels ..and blades of bulldozers.
Shortly after 9/11, I wanted to find out just how these minds worked. To me, joe average numb dumb American, these people didn't have any reality based in our normal rational space of an origin, intermediate terrain, and destination. They seemed to circumvent many of the normal stages of cause and effect. I joined a Pakistani message board. I would have gone to an Arab message board ..but I wanted something slighty off of the heated path. There I, and other Americans, waged much cultural and idealogical combat with our Muslim counterparts. This gave me tremendous insight into the origins of these issues.
Ulitimately I've learned many things.
No one "wins" a war. There are only those left "less bloodied".
People "fear" us. No one can resist our military. No one can survive without our economy.
We're culturally contagous.
Our politicians are basically navigators for our big business ..wielding the entire might of the strongest and richest nation on the planet.
That to the person being stepped on ..the difference between someone placing their boot on your neck ..or someone who just has VERY BIG FEET and who happens stumble upon you is "none".
That we're so powerful and our reach spans so far that no matter what we do, we shall 'hurt' someone (either in direct action, collateral damage, or "acts of omission").
That meeting "our needs" is many times at "others" expense.
This is typically viewed as some idealogical conflict. This is true only in the "apparent" lines that it draws. In reality it is NO DIFFERENT than post WWI Germany where Hitler took a bancrupt and humiliated population in despair and gave them someone to blame for it. He mobilized a nation that could well have ruled the world with those tools. The main difference is "our perception" of the battle field. I'm sure western Europe didn't think that they were doing anything "wrong" to Germany. Germany had gotten what they deserved for WWI, right? In this case you can have many little Hitlers and a population that spans the globe from which to recruit. Just because they don't wear uniforms and goose step and have tanks manufactured in factories doesn't make it any less a "war for power" by those who have none.
They are JUST AS EVIL as Hitler was ..but let me ask you ...do you say today, in spite of all the atrocities commited by the Nazis, '**** Germans!! If I could, I'd take a shovel to all of them"? No ..you rationalize it in the context of the conditions and resolution of the conflict.
I think that we will see far more warfare and expense in dealing with these who seek power. I don't necessarily see an alternative. By doing so ..we WILL develop regions that foster such radicalism ...are we not conquering and fosterning democracy in Iraq? Heck, we're heading toward the 200 billion $$ mark and it won't end there. Just multiply that for every place where such conditions exist and you will see the end to our task. That is, go ahead and take a shovel to these regions. Conquer them with our military. Have we EVER left a conquered people in ruin?
Have you ever seen the movie "The Mouse that Roared"?
